Shanghai Small Business Owners Protest for Rent Relief

After a three-month full-scale city lockdown in the name of the CCP virus pandemic, since June 1, Shanghai has gradually released the restrictions for businesses and its 25 million residents’ activities, even though some areas are still under strict lockdown.

People in Shanghai are finally allowed to enter and exit their own residential compound without providing a “health code” or “72-hour Nucleic Acid Test Status”, which are still the mandatory requirements for entering public venues, such as public transportation vehicles, office buildings, and shopping malls.

Walking on the streets in the city’s central districts, people can see the streets are still quite empty; most of the small business shops are also closed. Many of them were shut down voluntarily or forced out of business during the lockdown; many shops have a notice on the door saying “For rent.”

On June 13, hundreds of shop owners gathered outside the Qipu Lu Market, which used to be one of Shanghai’s most popular local shopping markets, requesting “rent relief.” Currently, due to the market depression, only around 10% of shops are still open at the Qipu Lu market; many shop owners have left a notice on the front of the shops saying “No Rent Relief, No Business” and “Who can save our shops?”.

Due to the CCP’s censorship and mass internet control, there is limited related information regarding the event. Based on the information gathered from the social media in Communist China, the people have learned that the market management authorities did not meet the business owners’ requests; later, the Chinese Communist Party dispatched a mix of police squads to the scene to “crowd-control” the peaceful protest.